Carpet laying tool for joining carpet sections



y 4, 1954 w. J. REINHARD 2,677,410

CARPET LAYING TOOL FOR JOINING CARPET SECTIONS Filed May 13, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 B L( Z I arro/wv'y May 4, 1954 w. J. REINHARD 2,677,410

CARPET LAYING TOOL FOR JOINING CARPET SECTIONS Filed May 13, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4. T .J. 7 g 2 ifliiiillllliillliiii m1 n 6 9am;

avg/1g! Patented May 4, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CARPET LAYING TOOL FOR JOINING CARPET SECTIONS Walter J. Reinhard, WestwoocLN. J.

Application May 13, 1950, SerialNo. 161,762

4Claim's. 1

My invention relates to a carpet laying tool especially designed to facilitate the operation 'of joining together sections of pile carpeting and has as a particular obje'ct'theprovision of a tool that may be conveniently manipulated on the job for bringing into proper relationship the abutting edges of adjoining sections so that ft-he floor covering has the appearance of seamless carpeting. The device of the present invention is useful especially in applying the method of my Patent No. 2,552,114 of May 8, 1951, to the on job fabrication of carpet sections into broadlooms and wall to wall carpeting by means of a sealing tape and a rubber adhesive, for example. In following this method it is important that the edges of adjacent sections be brought into close engagement before their permanent relationship is established by gripping devices protruding from the joining tape'of my earlieriapplication.

In laying-sectional carpeting it is usual to apply a binding tape to the exposed exterior edge of the carpeting to prevent raveling and to provide a .finished end to thecarpet or rug. Since the carpeting must be adapted to the door areas this edge binding has customarily been done in the workroom which has \proven time consuming as well as difficult and tedious :for the workman.

My novel carpet laying tool advantageously provides means for both operations, namely, for butting together the edges of adjacent carpet sections according to the method of my earlier application and for accurately applying a binding strip with ease and certainty to the exterior edges of the floor covering. The improved tool provides'for performing these'operations on location as well as in the workroom.

In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates the "operation of .my tool in butting together "sections of carpeting by the method described my aforei mentioned patent; Figure 2 shows a modified use of the tool in carpet laying-operations; Fig-ureB is a section on the line '3-3 of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a section takenon the line 4-4 :of Figure :1; Figure 4a is a similar View to Figure 4 showing the tufts or piles drawn away from the carpet backing; Figure 5 is a section on the line =5-'5 of Figure 1; Figure 6 is 'a side elevation of the tool on the operational edge of the device; Figure '7 is a partial view of a modification; Figure 8 is a bottom view on the operational :edge; Figure 9 is a front elevation showing a modified use of the device and Figure 10isa section on the line Hl-l 0 oflF-igure 2.

The present device zpreferafolyjmcludesran e1o'n-- gated flat plate I of metal 'or other suitable material having a downwardly flanged longitudinal edge '2 and an arm -'3 projecting outwardly :near the front of the tool and slightly in advance of the operating flange 2. An operating handle 4 is suitably secured on the top of the fiat plate I and biased away from the downwardly flanged edge 2 toward the 'front of the tool for convenience in manipulationduringcarpet laying operations.

The foremost portion of the flanged edge 2 is tapered outwardly at 5, as shown in Figure 8, to avoid gouging the pile sections by the leading edge as the tool is moved along the butting edge of the carpeting.

The described features of the device are adapted particularly for the novel method of joining carpet sections described in Patent No. 2,552,114 which is shown in Fig. '1 as including carpet joining tape 6 having pointed grippers l projecting upwardly from the tape. As the tape '6 is laid on the floor surface below the edges 8 and 9 of two carpet sections I0 and H to be brought into abutting relationship, a coating of a rubber adhesive, for example, is applied to the upper surface of the tape '6 whereupon the edge 9 of the carpet section 10 is pressed downwardly so that the projecting grippers 7 of the tape 5 penetrate the backing of the carpeting and loca'tes the edge "9 at approximately the middle portion of the tape. The novel carpet laying too} of the present invention is then applied to the upper surface of the carpet section l0, as shown in Figure l,so that the flanged edge 2 of the tool overlaps the edge of the pile facing of the carpet as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 of the drawing. Force is then applied to the tool to pull the carpet piles away from the seam thereby exposing the backing of the carpeting so that the edge 8 of the carpetsection 1-! may be brought into close abutting relationship to the longtiudinal edge 9 of the carpet section It. The depth of the flanged edge 2 is such that it engages the carpet piles just above the fabric backing in the manner shown in Figures 4 and 5.

It will be appreciated that the flanged edge enables withdrawing the carpet pile to such an extent that the adhesive more firmly locks the raw butts and backing together as shown in Figure 4a.

The forward portion of the carpet section I l lapped over the projecting arm 3 to hold tr backing above the grippers and the device is moved along the-carpet edge 9. while the pileis being continuously drawn away from the edge of the backing and the edge 8 of the adjoining sec tion I I brought into closely abutting relationship thereto, preferably by means of a pointed tool using a tamping motion. It has been found that my present tool, which is economical to manufacture and simple to operate, enables an exceptionally close joint to be obtained so that the floor covering has the appearance of seamless carpeting or broadlooms.

As previously mentioned, an essential part of carpet laying procedure is the application of a binding tape by means of an adhesive to the exposed exterior edge of the carpet for the purpose of strengthening the backing to prevent raveling and to provide a finished end of the carpeting. This tape may be from one to two inches in width and is applied to the backing of the carpet so that an edge of the tape curves around the butting edge to about the thickness of the backing up to the tuft portions. The features of my device now to be described are particularly concerned with the operation of applying this binding tape to the carpet backing as illustrated more I particularly in Figures 2 and 9 of the drawings.

Referring to Figures 4 and 5, which are sectional views taken on the lines 4-4 and 5-5 of Figure 1, it will be seen that the lowermost portion of the downwardly flanged edge 2 is curved or inclined slightly in the reverse direction to the direction of original bend as at I2 and as shown in Figure 6 the depth of the flanged edge 2 gradually decreases from the front to the trailing operational edge of the device.

The outwardly extending arm 3 on the flat plate I is formed with an opening and a guide finger I3 is secured to the arm 3 by a winged nut and screw I 4 which operate through a slot I5 formed in the guide finger [3. As shown in Figures 2 and 9, the guide finger I3 has a stepped portion I6 so that the inner section of the guide finger is elevated slightly above the surface of the flat plate I of the tool.

In the application of a binding tape I! to the edge of the carpet backing, a coating of rubber adhesive, for example, is suitably applied along the edge I8 of the carpet section to be taped and the tape I! laid along the edge of the carpet and brought rearwardly in the reverse direction of the front edge of the tool and below the guide finger I3, as illustrated clearly in Figures 2 and 9 of the drawings. It will *be seen particularly from Figure 2 that the guide finger I3 positions the tape so that it overlaps the edge I8 of the carpet backing to an extent approximately equal to the thickness of the carpet backing.

It will be seen that as the device is moved from right to left of Figure 2 with an adhesive coating applied along the edge I8 of the backing, the tape is accurately fed and positioned along the binding edge by the fiat plate I and the downwardly flanged edge 2 automatically feeds the edge of the tape to approximately the thickness of the backing as the tool is moved along in a manner clearly illustrated in the drawings. The position of the tape with respect to the carpet backing is illustrated in Figure 10.

For most applications it is preferred that the flanged edge 2 of the tool device be tapered rearwardly for the following reasons. tool is adapted to be employed in laying carpets of varying thickness it becomes necessary in certain cases that a greater portion of the binding tape be turned inwardly to fully cover the edge of the carpet backing up to the tuft por- Since this.

tions. It will be appreciated that the depth of turn given to the binding tape I1 may be regulated by varying the position of the guide finger I3 provided with slot I5 and wing nut I4. When applying tape to backing of exceptional thickness, the guide finger I3 is moved into an outward position on arm 3 and a maximum portion of the binding tape I1 is curved downwardly by the flanged edge 2. When this occurs the outermost edge of the binding tape I1 is firmly pressed into engagement with the butting edge of the carpet backing by the bite portion I2 of the edge 2 at the front end of the tool or at that point of maximum depth of the longitudinal edge 2.

On the other hand, on applying tape to thinner backings the guide finger I3 is adjusted so as to produce less of an overhang on the edge of the binding tape and as the tool is moved along and over the edge of the backing, the point of maximum pressure on th outermost edge of the binding tape will be applied by the bite portion I2 of the edge 2 toward the rear portion of the tool or shallower section of the flanged edge 2.

A modified form of the invention is shown in Figure '7 wherein the longitudinal edge 2 of the tool is of substantially equal depth from the forward to the trailing ends of the operational edge.

It will be seen that my tool provides an exceptionally useful device designed especially for use in connection with the method of my earlier patent although of course it is readily adaptable to other and analogous uses, for example, in the application of a binding tape to carpet edges in general use.

I claim:

1. A carpet laying device for joining abutting edges of carpet sections wherein a joining tape is laid along the surface to be covered and a suitable adhesive applied to the upper side thereof comprising a base, the lower surface of which is adapted to move across the surface of a pile fabric carpet adjacent to an edge of the carpet, and having a downwardly flanged longitudinal edge of a depth not substantially greater than the depth of the pile facing, said base having an arm disposed above the flanged edge extending outwardly from the said base across the edge of the carpet whereby the carpet pile may be drawn inwardly from the backing while the edge of an adjacent carpet section is lapped over the arm and. brought into closely butting relationship with the edge of the first section.

2. A carpet laying device for joining abutting edges of carpet sections wherein a joining tape is laid along the surface to be covered and a suitable adhesive applied to the upper side thereof comprising a base, the lower surface of which is adapted to move across the surface of a pile fabric carpet adjacent to an edge of the carpet, and having a downwardly flanged longitudinal edge of a depth not substantially greater than the depth of the pile facing, said base having an arm disposed above the flanged edge extending outwardly from the said base across the edge of the carpet, the said longitudinal edge having an outwardly tapered portion near the front of the tool whereby the carpet pile may be drawn inwardly from the backing while the edge of an adjacent carpet section is lapped over the arm and brought into closely butting relationship with the edge of the first section.

3. A carpet laying tool for joining abutting edges of carpet sections wherein a joining tape is laid along the surface to be covered and a suitable adhesive applied to the upper side thereof comprising a base having a relatively flat lower surface, an elongated element extending downwardly at an acute angle to the lower surface and providing a guide whereby the tool may be moved along one of two abutting edges to be joined, an arm secured to the base extending out- I wardly therefrom slightly above said elongated covered and a suitable adhesive applied to the upper side thereof, comprising a base having a relatively flat lower surface vwith a downwardly flanged longitudinal edge of a depth not substantially greater than the depth of the pile facing on the carpet sections so that the carpet pile at the edge of one of the carpet sections to be joined may be drawn inwardly to expose the edge of the carpet backing for sealing the raw edges thereof with the adhesive.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,924,523 Spring Aug. 29, 1933 1,924,551 Higgins Aug. 29, 1933 2,327,150 Allen Aug. 1'7, 1943 

